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Bernard Mcginn

6 papers in the library · 41 citations · publishing 1999-2022

Papers

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Ecstasy in Classic Christian Mysticism

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) August 1, 2022 Bernard Mcginn

Ecstasy (literally, ‘standing outside’), that is, the sense of being outside or beyond the ordinary modes of consciousness, seems to be a universal trait of human existence. Among the many forms of ecstasy is religious, or ‘supra-normal’, ecstasy, which is seen as coming from the action of a higher source, or divinity. This essay examines the forms of religious ecstasy and related terminology...

Mystical Union

The Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology February 25, 2020 Bernard Mcginn 1 citation

This chapter follows the evolution of the three main models of Christian understanding of mystical union from the biblical foundations down to the crisis of mysticism at the end of the seventeenth century. Although the technical term ‘mystical union’ was rarely used for most of this period, many Christian thinkers spoke about becoming one with God through grace. Three main models emerged. The...

The Genealogy of Mystical Traditions

The Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology February 25, 2020 Bernard Mcginn

This chapter is designed as a broad road map of the development of Christian mystical theology down to the Quietist Controversy at the end of the seventeenth century and the triumph of the Enlightenment, which took a generally negative attitude toward the mystical element in Christianity. It follows the main genealogies, or historically coherent traditions of mystical theology, from the...

Mystical Consciousness: A Modest Proposal

Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality March 1, 2008 Bernard Mcginn

Much of the recent literature on mysticism has taken mystical experience as a central theme. The term itself is not only recent, but also involves complexities both of a theoretical and historical character. The proposal advanced here is that mystical consciousness, understood as the meta-conscious co-presence of God in the entire process of experiencing, understanding, affirming, loving, and...